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Can Patrick Bamford prove his worth at Burnley?

Highly-rated young Chelsea forward Patrick Bamford looks set to join Burnley on loan

According to Burnley boss Sean Dyche the Clarets are set to sign Chelsea forward Patrick Bamford on loan.

Speaking after yesterday’s 3-0 defeat at the Blues, Dyche told Sky Sports: “Patrick is close. It’s just a few is getting dotted and ts getting crossed.

“There are a number of other things closer too, but we still have to get them over the line, so we’ll wait and see.”

Questions mark over the youngster

Patrick Bamford is now 22-years-old. The forward has been touted as a future star since for a long time now and shown flashes of his ability. In 2012 he joined the Blues as a highly-rated youngster from Nottingham Forest, but he has yet to make a first-team appearance for the club.

He has spent the last four years at various different clubs on loan, including last season when he had temporary stints at both Crystal Palace and Norwich City. The youngster struggled for game time at both making just two top-flight starts, despite both teams seemingly lacking prolific players up front.

His most productive loan spell came back in season 2014/15 when on-loan at Championship Middlesbrough, where he scored 17 goals in 40 appearances. The previous season he had spent time on-loan at Derby also in the Championship and scored eight times in 23 appearances.

The fact he has struggled to get into Premier League teams and his best form have come in the Championship suggest that maybe the second tier is his level, for now anyway. He may need to take one step back to take two steps forward in future.

As an English youngster around the Chelsea first team set-up, he was always going to be over-hyped by the media. The lad just needs to play first team football and maybe then he will prove that he can play in the Premier League. Maybe he will not.

So many young English players have been hyped-up and then just gradually faded away or ended up playing in the lower leagues. If Bamford does not start playing regular first team football soon then it could easily happen to the forward.

Burnley needs an injection of quality

Burnley is a very well run club. They do not spend beyond their means and that approach has worked for them in recent years, even if it has meant relegation and having to earn promotion back to the Premier League.

In Sean Dyche, they have a very solid boss, but he is not given the greatest financial backing, so he does not always have the best quality players at his disposal. Any quality additions to his squad would no doubt be welcome.

The recent £8million signing of Belgium international midfielder Steven Defour from Anderlecht was a rare sign of decadence from the Clarets.

On paper, Patrick Bamford moving to Burnley seems like an ideal move. However, in reality, the strongest area of the Clarets team is up front with strikers Andre Gray and Sam Vokes two of their better players.

Bamford will be moving to play first team football, but could once again find himself on the bench behind the aforementioned pair. Granted Bamford is more likely to oust the Burnley pair than Diego Costa and Michy Batshuayi at Chelsea, but still, he faces a fight to get into the starting eleven.

Burnley in a relegation fight

Burnley have started their Premier League campaign with one win and two defeats. The Clarets are favourites for relegation from the top-flight at odds of 4/5 and a relegation fight is almost inevitable.

The Clarets are in need of extra quality in their squad, but whether Bamford has what it takes to be a quality Premier League player remains to be seen. If he does make the move to Lancashire and fails to impress his career may never recover.

If he is a success then some of the hype surrounding the youngster earlier in his career may well prove justified. This season could be a defining one for Bamford and show whether he can cut it in the top-flight or not.